Recreationism

* Among the February 2007 postings to this blog, is one titled "Human condition". In it, I contemplated a humanistic religion, a body of wisdom and practices that would provide as much meaning and satisfaction for adherents as are justified by evidence and reason and that would tilt society towards diminishing harm. I had a vague idea about the body of wisdom and no idea about practices that would attract people to embrace such a religion.
* One could assemble a bible consisting of wisdom scriptures from all established religions, a section from each such religion, avoiding all text encouraging tribalism and all supernatural claims. Their ethics derive from centuries of experience.
* Sunday-morning assembly programs might be discussions of personal ethics and ethical implications of public policy and cultural conventions. They might include stories exemplifying ethical and practical consequences of individual and governmental choices.
* Sunday-school lessons might consist of presentations and discussions of social and economic dynamics as well as recreational explorations of scientific discoveries advancing the understanding of nature (physics, biology, astronomy, sociology, even chemistry). There are plenty of web pages to support such explorations. I have more than 200 germane links. Outside experts and students might welcome opportunities to discuss their interests with curious people.
* Stimulating recreation would be promoted. That would include sports, arts, crafts, literature, instrumental music, writing, theater, dance, songs of dignified genres and invented play. Opportunities for inter-generational sharing and fellowship might unfold.
* Most of the above should be stimulating and enlightening, but may not activate the amygdala enough for internalization of ethical principals. Anyone of any age needs to learn and reinforce noble sentiments through emotional responses to justice, generosity, unexpected nobility, etc. This might be accomplished through the music program. I have collected 130 songs that activate the amygdala, these in a songbook titled "Country Pathos, Country Soul".
* I'm too senile to begin the above implied project, but I'd love to participate in such gatherings. I wouldn't abandon the Christian churches to which I'm indebted for my most thrilling experiences. Perhaps the Humanistic Church could meet on first Sundays rather than weekly.
* It seems likely that numerous academic and professional types would benefit from church participation for the social interaction with serious people of good will and for help in raising children, people who would not join a conventional church requiring frequent rejection of evidence.
* The broad purpose of this additional church is to make progress towards a great civilization, one lacking gratuitous harm, one where people's rights are respected across ethnic and religious boundaries, across time and across town. Existing religions are failing in this long-term human project.

Government needed

* Milt Herring's July-6 letter to the Tennessean news paper said that Americans satisfied with their liberty fell from 91% in 2006 to 79% in 2013. He attributed the decline in satisfaction to government intervention in the form of regulation, taxes, political correctness, church-state separation, etc.
* The decline seems modest, considering that we were at the peak of a speculative bubble in 2006 and have been climbing out of the resulting economic collapse since 2008, and considering that we have been told since 2008 that Obama is an illegitimate leader destroying the economy, nation and constitution (more than 9 hrs/day by that pernicious purveyor of seditious slander, Fox radio).
* I doubt Mr Herring applauds the freedom from government intervention in northern Nigeria. He probably wishes regulators had prevented banks from tempting home buyers into adjustable-rate mortgages up to 125% of appraised value. He probably hopes there are some resources for future Americans. I doubt he misses the pre-PC belittling of disadvantaged people around the water cooler. Surely he doesn't admire religion-permeated governments common outside Europe and the Americas.
* Government intervention is the price of a civilized society, where people respect each others rights, even if begrudgingly. Without it, the primitive drives that enabled our survival and evolution would lead to rampant harm. Government compensates for failures of family, school, church and culture to instill character.
* Government would be better if leaders discussed economics with engineers, mathematicians, biologists and inventors, imaginative people who understand system dynamics.